As early as 1957 the University of Durham decided to expand E of the historic Durham peninsula where it had previously built. A new students’ union was planned at the head of New Elvet, joined to the peninsula university buildings by means of a new footbridge across the Wear gorge. The new bridge, Kingsgate Bridge, was commissioned from Ove Arup and Partners and was completed in 1963 (Grade I; National Heritage List for England: 1119766). In 1961 the Architects’ Co-Partnership (ACP) was commissioned to design the students’ union, following testimony from St John’s College Oxford where the firm had designed the much-admired Beehives building in 1958-60 (Grade II; NHLE: 1278860). As at St John’s, the partner in charge was Michael Powers, but at Dunelm House the design was by a young assistant Richard Raines. From the outset Ove Arup & Partners was part of the design team as consultant engineers. The builder was John Laing, one of the leading contractors of the day, who completed construction at a cost of £350,000. The university brief for the building was very specific and Raines had to meet it ‘exactly’. Communal facilities were needed so that the 70% of students living in university accommodation could meet those living in other colleges and the 30% living independently had a meeting place. There was to be staff space too and the brief required very separated spaces for these functions. Substantial accommodation was to be built on a steeply sloping site that stretched from the domestic character of New Elvet, down 15.4m (50ft) to the dramatic landscape of the Wear gorge, where right at the river’s edge the architects were to provide a boathouse (Roberts 2013). It was essentially to be a recreational building, designed to provide a wide range of cultural and social opportunities for students outside the curriculum, with a cafeteria, bar, coffee lounge, assembly and meeting rooms. The building was funded by the University Grants Committee and cost considerations were a determining issue. The drawings were made in 1962-4, and Dunelm House was built between 1964-6. The opening of the building in 1966 saw a concert performed by Thelonious Monk, the influential American Jazz musician and composer. The building was publicised and received some praise in the architectural press. It won a Civic Trust Award, and the RIBA Bronze Medal for 1966, and has always been widely admired in its own right as well as for the strong, modern group it forms with Kingsgate Bridge. An appraisal of the building in 1972 by Jack Lynn writes positively about the building and also comments on the lack of flexibility in the plan form and cites a number of shortcomings of the functioning of the services and the interior decoration, while acknowledging the shortcomings as 'relatively minor troubles in a heavily used building' and that 'Dunelm House has stood up well to harsh treatment'. The Architects’ Journal on 26 October 2011 published a report entitled ‘Britain’s best university buildings: Student Unions’, which identified a ‘top five’ that included Dunelm House and the Cambridge ‘GradPad’ as its 1960s’ examples. The external form of the building remains largely unchanged, with the exception of an additional set of external stairs added in 1965, replacement main doors and some replacement fenestration and secondary glazing. The internal plan remains largely intact too, although there have been alterations to several of the main spaces: an attempt to remedy water ingress through the roof was provided by the addition of brackets to anchor some of the tiles in place; the cafeteria received a false floor and a new screen, counter and furniture and the original decorative scheme was replaced; the original Scandinavian interiors of the bar were replaced and it was enlarged by incorporating the former reading and billiard rooms and a new counter was installed; the former coffee lounge has been partitioned, with most of it converted to offices; original doors designed as frameless plate glass have mostly been replaced; an additional stair to the bar mezzanine was added in c1970 and a reception area inserted and secondary glazing was added to some parts of the building. In 1989-90 the N part of the building, formerly the separate staff accommodation, was converted to a separate Careers Advisory Service, itself converted in 2013 for use as the University English Language Unit. Some time before 1996 the original caretaker's flat was converted to offices. The form of the original large spaces including the ballroom are relatively unchanged however. More recently stair lifts have been fitted onto the main staircase. The original design of the building included a number of built-in seats, ash trays, lighting, phone booths and a billiard table pedestal, of which a few examples of ash trays and benches remain, and a few original light fittings are retained within plant rooms. I would thoroughly recommend purchasing a copy of Dunelm House: One Ruin Too Many, which tells the story of the campaign to stop the complex from being demolished. Irrespective of your opinion, it's an invaluable piece of work also featuring the works of Des Kelly. Des, with kind permission from his son Andy features a collection on our site.